On Sunday, during the beautiful wedding shower and our time with the family in Butler, I realized that I am a "picture person." I've always loved pictures, photographs, snap shots, candids...I just didn't realize how much they mean to me.
Growing up, as far back as I can remember, there was always this stack of photo albums. They were my mother's prized possessions, and they became mine as well. They documented our lives, our family. They contained our greatest moments...our first days of school, our infant and toddler years, our family vacations. Their worth was instilled in me at a very young age.
As I grew up and entered school, I dreaded having my picture taken for the annual. I knew the picture would be bad, but more importantly, I knew that, no matter what, that picture would be on the long wall across the back of our den. It was like our own Hall of Fame, but more like a Hall of Shame. It held our pitiful school year pictures: Vic with his buck teeth, me with my frizzed out bangs, and my sister with the unusual zoom to block her arm cast out of the picture. But these pictures were prized too. My mom still has them all packed away in boxes...the only reason they aren't on display is because we wouldn't let her put them back up.
My mom was always the one taking pictures of us at school events, sports, vacations, and play times. We still joke about how our trip to Disney World in 1994 is completely documented by pictures...and how we all came back with a "cheese" smile plastered on our faces from all the photos taken. So now that infamous stack of photo albums is joined by boxes and boxes of pictures...snapshots throughout our lives. It is a mess of past events on paper, completely unorganized, but treasured greatly.
Like the rest of the home I grew up in, my room was also filled with pictures. Not by demand, but by my own will. My walls were covered in collages and bulletin boards filled with pictures and momentos. My college dorm was very similar. I had bulletin boards filled with pictures of family and friends from home outlined by pictures of my new college buddies. It was a way for me to feel at home I guess...I had more pictures on the walls than any of my other college buddies, but having all those smiles and familiar faces on my walls just seemed to make me feel more comfortable in that new place.
Well, now I have a new home, and I have to admit that I unpacked the boxes of picture frames before I unpacked some of my clothes. I needed to have those pictures up, have those happy and familiar faces smiling at me from a shelf. I needed their comfort and the remembrance of all those happy times that are documented in each snap shot. We still don't have art and large things up on our walls, but by golly our bookshelves are covered in picture frames. None of the picture frames are really in a set spot or have any order to them yet, but at least they are out in the open where I can see the faces of all my family and friends. And I guess I am a little comforted by the fact that they aren't organized yet...it reminds me of that treasured, haphazard stack of photo albums that started all of this.
Growing up, as far back as I can remember, there was always this stack of photo albums. They were my mother's prized possessions, and they became mine as well. They documented our lives, our family. They contained our greatest moments...our first days of school, our infant and toddler years, our family vacations. Their worth was instilled in me at a very young age.
As I grew up and entered school, I dreaded having my picture taken for the annual. I knew the picture would be bad, but more importantly, I knew that, no matter what, that picture would be on the long wall across the back of our den. It was like our own Hall of Fame, but more like a Hall of Shame. It held our pitiful school year pictures: Vic with his buck teeth, me with my frizzed out bangs, and my sister with the unusual zoom to block her arm cast out of the picture. But these pictures were prized too. My mom still has them all packed away in boxes...the only reason they aren't on display is because we wouldn't let her put them back up.
My mom was always the one taking pictures of us at school events, sports, vacations, and play times. We still joke about how our trip to Disney World in 1994 is completely documented by pictures...and how we all came back with a "cheese" smile plastered on our faces from all the photos taken. So now that infamous stack of photo albums is joined by boxes and boxes of pictures...snapshots throughout our lives. It is a mess of past events on paper, completely unorganized, but treasured greatly.
Like the rest of the home I grew up in, my room was also filled with pictures. Not by demand, but by my own will. My walls were covered in collages and bulletin boards filled with pictures and momentos. My college dorm was very similar. I had bulletin boards filled with pictures of family and friends from home outlined by pictures of my new college buddies. It was a way for me to feel at home I guess...I had more pictures on the walls than any of my other college buddies, but having all those smiles and familiar faces on my walls just seemed to make me feel more comfortable in that new place.
Well, now I have a new home, and I have to admit that I unpacked the boxes of picture frames before I unpacked some of my clothes. I needed to have those pictures up, have those happy and familiar faces smiling at me from a shelf. I needed their comfort and the remembrance of all those happy times that are documented in each snap shot. We still don't have art and large things up on our walls, but by golly our bookshelves are covered in picture frames. None of the picture frames are really in a set spot or have any order to them yet, but at least they are out in the open where I can see the faces of all my family and friends. And I guess I am a little comforted by the fact that they aren't organized yet...it reminds me of that treasured, haphazard stack of photo albums that started all of this.
One of the many pictures from those albums:
That is so sweet! I am the same way about pictures. I think I have more pictures of my nieces and nephews than my brother and his wife do! I took pictures of my dog like you would a child at each month interval! I want to go to my parents and get some old photos to put out in our house!
ReplyDeleteSeems like yesterday that you and Ash were that size. but now both of your have grown to beautiful women. I am so very proud of you and your new life,Jessica. I miss you dearly being close by; but I know that it's time let you fly. You are so rich in so many ways. I read your blog and feel the passion, the hurt, the cnfidence, and the respect that you have for your life. I think, no, I know that you and Josh will be very happy. I love you! Dad
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